Conventionally, apparatuses for manufacturing chains of linked food products such as sausages, which are commonly employed widely, are so constructed as to manufacture food products such as chains of linked food products by discharging a material of a food product such as sausage into a casing by using a rotating stuffing tube. However, manufacturing apparatuses which have a plurality of stuffing tubes for the purpose of improving the productivity of the apparatus and use the plurality of stuffing tubes by changing them over are known in patent documents which will be described later.
In the process of manufacturing sausages, a leading end and a trailing end of a chain of linked sausages with twisted portions are tied manually so as not to cause the filled material to leak therefrom. Normally, twisted portions of natural intestine sausages, as compared with artificial casing sausages, are likely to be untwisted, and the stuffed casing is likely to be broken, so that operations of repairing or removing these defective portions are performed in addition to the above-mentioned manual operation. The extent of the occurrence of these defects differs among individual natural intestine casings, and a large difference can occur in the operating time for the above-described required processing with respect to the stuffed casings. If the operating time becomes long, a delay occurs in starting the stuffing of an ensuing casing, so that idle time occurs in the machine.
A manufacturing apparatus disclosed in JP-B-59-50294 (see particularly FIG. 3 in that document) is comprised of a sausage making apparatus 1 having two tubes 22 (stuffing tubes) and a pickup 461 for forming the sausage into loop form and suspending it from a guide shaft 471. In this manufacturing apparatus 1, the two tubes are mounted on a turret 113, and the arrangement provided is such that after the tubes are moved by the rotation of the turret, the tubes are alternately communicated with a metering pump 3, to thereby use the tubes after being changed over. In this manufacturing apparatus, a gear 112 provided on the tube is meshed with a gear 114 on the main body side of the apparatus by the rotation of the turret.
However, although the manufacturing apparatus in accordance with JP-B-59-50294 forms the sausage into loop form, since a rotatively driving device for rotating the turret 113 having two stuffing tubes is not provided, this manufacturing apparatus has a problem in the enhancement of the operation rate of the apparatus in using natural intestine casings in which the variation of the quality of the casings is large among individual intestines. Namely, the time required for the manual processing operation by an operator, which is performed with respect to the natural intestine sausage formed into loops, depends on the good or bad quality of the natural intestine casings. Although in the case where only one stuffing tube is provided, it is necessary to allow the casing to be loaded onto the stuffing tube after the stuffing of one casing, in the case of this manufacturing apparatus an ensuing casing can be loaded in advance onto the other stuffing tube during stuffing by one stuffing tube, thereby making it possible to prevent the occurrence of idle time which is otherwise caused. However, since the device for rotatively driving the turret is not provided, in low-quality natural intestine casings requiring a long time in the manual processing operation, a time lag occurs in the timing of rotatively driving the turret by the operator, and idle time increases by that portion. Thus, the manufacturing apparatus disclosed in the patent document 1 is unable to prevent the occurrence of the idle time which can occur due to the variation of the processing time.
Further, in the manufacturing apparatus in accordance with JP-B-59-50294, since the driven gear is meshed with the drive gear by rotating the turret, it is preferable to rotate the turret at a relatively low speed in order to complete the meshing of these gears without trouble.
In a manufacturing apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,964,236, two stuffing tubes 62 and 64 are mounted on a stuffing tube support 48 which is rotatably supported on a shaft 46, and the arrangement provided is such that after the stuffing tubes are moved by the rotation of the support, the stuffing tubes are alternately communicated with a spindle 26, to thereby use the stuffing tubes after being changed over. In this manufacturing apparatus, by moving the entire support in the axial direction of the shaft while rotating the support, a collar 68 to which the stuffing tube is attached is brought into pressure contact with O-rings 36.
In the manufacturing apparatus in accordance with U.S. Pat. No. 3,964,236, since it is necessary to move the entire support in the axial direction of the stuffing tube while rotating the support in order to couple the stuffing tube to the spindle, it is preferable to rotate the support 48 at a relatively low speed in the light of the inertia of the support which can be generated.
As described above, in the manufacturing apparatuses disclosed in JP-B-59-50294 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,964,236, the arrangement provided is such that the stuffing tube side is coupled to the driving source side while rotating the turret or the support for moving the two stuffing tubes. Therefore, in either apparatus, substantial time is required in the movement and coupling of the stuffing tubes, so that there is a problem in the productivity of the apparatus.
Furthermore, in the manufacturing apparatus in accordance with U.S. Pat. No. 3,964,236, the arrangement provided is such that, during the movement of the stuffing tubes, an end face of the color with the stuffing tube attached thereto has a gap with a sealing surface of a plate 40. Therefore, there is a possibility that the leakage of the material of such as sausage from that gap can occur, resulting in a hygienic problem.
In addition, a manufacturing apparatus disclosed in JP-A-2001-352897 is known which is aimed at improving the productivity of the apparatus. The manufacturing apparatus in accordance with JP-A-2001-352897 is adapted to continuously perform the production of natural intestine sausages as well as the transporting of a chain of natural intestine sausages in the form of loops and the processing of its ends. However, in a case where, at the time when the end of the chain of sausages is passed through a heating tank, the loop of sausages is manually removed from suspending members to immerse the end of the chain of sausages in the heating tank, the apparatus has a problem in that the period of time for performing that operation is limited.
JP-A-47-43379 discloses a sausage manufacturing apparatus which has four nozzles and in which these nozzles are capable of sequentially moving to a position in front of an outlet of a filling machine along a circular path. In this manufacturing apparatus, during filling by a nozzle 36 communicating with the outlet of the filling machine, a sausage casing with one end already closed is loaded on another nozzle 36 located at a lowermost position. In this apparatus, a sausage consisting of only one link is manufactured with one sausage casing by closing the other end as well. Further, this apparatus has a structure in which each nozzle does not rotate about its own axis, and twisted portions are not formed in the casing. Accordingly, in this manufacturing apparatus, the operator needs not to process the end of the filled casing during filling, and needs not to perform the processing operation which would normally be required in the manufacture of a chain of linked sausages with twisted portions. In other words, the manufacturing apparatus in accordance with JP-A-47-43379 does not address the technological problems of the invention.
In a manufacturing apparatus disclosed in JP-B-41-5899, a clamp consisting of a pair of V-shaped members opposing both sides of a casing is provided in such a manner as to be capable of coming into contact with and moving away from the both sides of the casing in a horizontal direction. Further, a hopper with a plurality of casings accommodated therein is disposed above one of the members, and the aforementioned both V-shaped members approach and clamp the casing and dispose the casing at a predetermined position. A stuffing tube moves toward the casing disposed at the predetermined position and is inserted into a bore of the tubular casing.
The casing loading apparatus disclosed in the manufacturing apparatus in accordance with JP-B-41-5899 is effective with respect to the sausage manufacturing apparatus of the type in which the stuffing tube moves in its longitudinal direction. However, the casing loading apparatus cannot be applied to the apparatus of the type in which the stuffing tube does not move in its longitudinal direction, as in the apparatus in accordance with JP-B-63-62170, which will be described below.
A casing loading apparatus disclosed in a manufacturing apparatus in accordance with JP-B-63-62170 has a guiding chute for setting the casings horizontally and arranging a plurality of such casings in a vertical direction. A receiving plate is located below an opening of the guiding chute at a spacing corresponding to one casing, and a finger 18 mounted to a pushing member for allowing a lowermost casing positioned on the receiving plate to be pushed out in its longitudinal direction and for moving that casing to the stuffing tube on standby in the outside. The lowermost casing is fed out in its longitudinal direction in a state in which it is sandwiched by another casing placed thereon and the receiving plate.
In the casing loading apparatus in accordance with JP-B-63-62170, the lowermost casing moves in its longitudinal direction while being brought into rubbing contact with the casing placed thereon, so that there is a possibility that the folds of the upper and lower casings bite onto each other, causing deformation of the folds. Furthermore, during the returning movement of the pushing member 27, the finger 18 moves in a state of being in contact with an outer periphery of the sausage skin 10 located at the lowermost position, there is a possibility of the outer periphery of the casing becoming damaged by the finger 18.
Furthermore, a casing loading apparatus disclosed in JP-A-5-192068 is known. In the apparatus in accordance with JP-A-5-192068, a gut caterpillar is fed to a centering means having a conveyor means, and the gut caterpillar is arranged in front of a stuffing tube so as to be in substantial alignment with the stuffing tube, and is placed on the stuffing tube from this position. A centering element provided above and immediately in front of the stuffing tube is adapted to effect the centering of the gut caterpillar placed on a conveyor belt with respect to the stuffing tube. However, in the apparatus in accordance with JP-A-2001-352897, if a difference is caused in the driving force acting on the gut caterpillar due to the conveyor and the centering element, there is a possibility of loosening the gathers of the gut caterpillar.